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He also announced that the Bipartisan Policy Center Action has endorsed the bill.
The Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act passed the House in May and would retroactively exempt thousands of qualified wildfire victims in California, including PG&E fire victims, from having to pay federal income tax on their settlement money or pay tax on attorney fees that are included in the settlement.
It also excludes from taxpayer gross income, for income tax purposes, relief payments for losses resulting from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment on Feb. 3, 2023, and designates Hurricane Ian, among other federally declared disasters, as a qualified disaster for the purposes of determining the tax treatment of certain disaster-related personal casualty losses.
“Through no fault of their own, too many Americans have incurred thousands of dollars in disaster-related expenses. It’s wrong to tax disaster victims on the settlement money meant to help them rebuild their lives,” said Thompson. “Thank you to my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, for joining me to advocate for this much-needed relief for wildfire and other disaster victims. Thank you to Bipartisan Policy Center Action, as well, for recognizing the importance of this relief and endorsing this legislation. Now, Senate leadership must work with us to deliver tax relief to the disaster victims who have been waiting for it.”
The 79-member group sent a letter Thursday advocating for Senate Leadership to take up the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act. Rep. Thompson serves as the Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax.
He introduced the original legislation to provide tax relief to PG&E fire victims in the 117th Congress and has worked to advance the legislation ever since.
In May, Rep. Thompson and Rep. Greg Steube (FL-17) led a bipartisan group of 218 Members of Congress to successfully advance a discharge petition which forced House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act to the House floor for a vote.
The historic advancement of Thompson and Steube’s petition marked only the third time a House discharge petition has succeeded in the 21st century. The bill passed with strong bipartisan support and Rep. Thompson and Rep. Steube continue to advocate for the Senate to take up the bill and pass it.
“Since the Senate failed to pass the bipartisan tax package, which included my bill to deliver tax relief, Senate leadership must now permit my stand-alone disaster relief bill to pass swiftly through the Senate on unanimous consent,” said Rep. Steube. “My bill precedes the larger package and received resounding support across the aisle in the House (382-7). Americans can’t wait for disaster relief. Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina sustained major impacts from Hurricane Debby, further underscoring the need to pass this bill as soon as possible. Millions of Americans affected by more than 300 disasters in 48 states will be helped by this legislation. The Senate must finish the job.”
“BPC Action applauds Reps. Greg Steube (R-FL) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) for their continued efforts to enact the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act. Too often, the cards are stacked against disaster survivors working tirelessly to rebuild their homes, communities, and lives. The Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act would address one significant burden by exempting the compensation households have received for certain disaster-related losses, expenses, and damages from federal income taxes. The bill's 36 bipartisan House sponsors, historic discharge petition, and overwhelmingly bipartisan vote on the House Floor demonstrate the breadth of support in Congress for helping those affected by devastating disasters. With families having now waited years for this much-needed relief, BPC Action urges the Senate to quickly pass this important legislation,” said Michele Stockwell, president, BPC Action.
BPC Action has endorsed the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act. BPC Action is the advocacy partner of the Bipartisan Policy Center and engages in advocacy, education, and outreach to bring Democrats and Republicans together to achieve policy changes on critical issues.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
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Assemblymember James C. Ramos’s legislation ranging from children and youth to public safety and tribes cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense file on Thursday.
The approved measures will be voted on by the full Senate by the close of session on Aug. 31.
Senate Appropriations approved the following bills:
AB 2108, the Luke Madrigal Act, requires a county social worker or probation officer to immediately notify parents or legal guardians, attorneys for parents, court-appointed special advocates, the court of jurisdiction and others when they receive information that children receiving child welfare services, including non-minor dependents, are missing from foster care. The Yurok Tribe, California Tribal Families Coalition and Alliance for Children’s Rights are sponsors.
AB 2711 would ensure that students who voluntarily disclose their substance use to school officials for purposes of seeking assistance will not be suspended. Sponsors are the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, California Alliance of Child and Family Services and California Youth Empowerment Network and Children Now.
AB 2138 creates a three-year pilot program allowing tribal governments under specified conditions to grant their law enforcement officers peace officer status. Sponsors are the Yurok Tribe and California Indian Legal Services.
AB 2695 requires the Department of Justice to collect and disaggregate data on crimes occurring on Indian lands and report that information to the California Department of Justice as part of its efforts to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis. Sponsor is California Attorney General Rob Bonta. It is also supported by the Cahuilla Band of Indians and California Tribal Business Alliance.
Also moving out of the Senate Appropriations Committee is AB 1284, which would allow California’s federally recognized tribes to enter into co-governance and co-management agreements with the California Natural Resources Agency. Sponsors are the Resighini Rancheria and the Tolwa Dee-ni' Nation.
Ramos bills currently on the Senate floor include AB 81, which seeks to safeguard existing state statutes protecting Indian children, families and the rights of tribes in child welfare cases by making changes throughout various code sections regarding placement of children in Indian child welfare cases. Official sponsors are the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the California Tribal Families Coalition.
There also is AB 1821, which would require California schools, when teaching about the Spanish Colonization and Gold Rush Eras, to teach the true history of the treatment and perspectives of California Native Americans during those periods. It would also require that the Instructional Quality Commission consider including the content in the curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for instructional materials. Sponsors are the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
In addition, AB 3276 would ratify the tribal-state gaming compact between the State of California and the Tule River Indian Tribe of California executed on June 25, 2024. Sponsor is the Tule River Indian Tribe of California.
Measures already heading to the governor’s desk are AB 1863, which would make changes to the Feather Alert, a public notification system operated by the California Highway Patrol when Native Americans are missing. The changes would streamline the process and require the CHP to state why a notification request is not enacted. Sponsors are the Bear River of the Rohnerville Rancheria, Pechanga Band of Mission Indians and the Yurok Tribe.
Also, AB 2948 that would include a final order of adoption issued by a tribal court as a qualifying circumstance for a child to receive Adoption Assistance Program benefits.
Ramos, who represents the 45th Assembly district, is the first and only California Native American serving in the state’s legislature.
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In making his decision, Judge J. David Markham considered the water company’s bylaws, case briefs, arguments, district practice — and even matters of punctuation.
Markham presided over the brief oral arguments in the case on Tuesday afternoon, taking the matter under submission and planning to release the decision by the end of the week, as Lake County News has reported.
Highlands Mutual held its annual shareholder meeting on April 10 to elect a board, at which time the city brought 177 proxy votes in an attempt to have the Clearlake City Council elected.
Instead, Highlands Mutual ruled that its board had been reelected with 217 votes. It also said nearly half of the proxies submitted by the city were not valid because they were from owners of vacant lots that they said are not eligible to vote.
In June, the city of Clearlake filed the lawsuit seeking to have the election set aside and to force Highlands Mutual to release more information about its operations that the city maintained it is entitled to have under state corporation law.
That matter of who was eligible to vote under the definition of “shareholder” was key to the case, and emphasized during Tuesday’s argument.
Brian Hamilton, representing the city, said the water company’s bylaws and articles of incorporation were clear in considering property owners within the water company boundaries as shareholders.
Highlands Mutual’s attorney, Damian Moos, argued that in order to be a shareholder, a property owner must have a connection to the system. He said that the water company has conducted elections using that shareholder definition for decades, and the city had not previously raised an issue with it.
Markham’s reading of Highlands Mutual’s bylaws found that each lot or parcel is entitled to one share in the water company. “The language does not limit shares to those with water connections.”
The ruling noted, “Defendants rely on language in the Articles [of incorporation], conduct of the City, and conduct of the Board of DIrectors of Highlands.”
The articles of incorporation said that the water company’s purpose is “‘to sell and distribute [water] among the stockholders of this corporation who have land reached by a conduit or pipe line of this Company …’ Defendants argue that by adding the words ‘who have land reached by a conduit or pipe line,’ the drafters intended to limit ‘stockholders’ to those who have land reached by a conduit or pipe line.”
However, he said punctuation was an important consideration, explaining that the lack of punctuation or parenthetical phrases — such as, “in other words” or “to-wit” — indicated “the drafters did not intend to convey that meaning.”
Markham further explained, “For example, the drafters could have written, ‘among the stockholders of this corporation, to-wit, those who have land reached by a conduit or pipe line …’ Or they could have written, ‘among the stockholders of this corporation, who have land reached by a conduit or pipe line …’ Even the addition of a single comma could have indicated that the stockholders were limited to owners of land reached by a conduit or pipe line.”
As a result, Markham found that the city’s interpretation of Highlands Water’s bylaws is consistent with the “plain meaning” of the words in the document and the corporation’s stated purpose.
“Allowing unconnected properties to have shares and the right to vote furthers the purpose of Highlands by allowing future water users [to] have a say in how Highlands is managed so as to protect their ability to obtain connections and receive water in the future,” Markham wrote in the seven-page decision.
He found the water company’s understanding “is inconsistent with the plain meaning of the language used.”
The city’s failure to previously enforce its shareholder rights didn’t help the court with the issue of the language interpretation, and the city not taking action earlier “does not add to or detract from the terms used in the Bylaws or Articles,” Markham wrote.
Based on his evaluation of the evidence, Markham concluded that “owners of all lots and parcels, with or without a water connection, are shareholders of Highlands Mutual Water Company.”
As a result, because Highlands did not notice all shareholders of the board of directors election on April 24, Markham said the election was invalid.
Moos argued on Tuesday that Highlands Mutual has no knowledge of who owns the parcels in its territory, and that it would have to send notices to landowners they don’t know exist.
The city, in response, said the recorder’s office would have that information about the parcels.
Despite Highlands Mutual’s objections to having to send out those notices to all property owners in its territory, Markham has ordered the water company to notice a new election to all shareholders, with the election to take place within 45 days of the issuance of the order on Wednesday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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The event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Xabatin Community Park Theater.
Online registration is available now at https://sponsoringsurvivorship.com/.
There will be a 2K walk, 5K walk, 5K run and 10K run.
The registration fee is $30 and includes a free t-shirt.
On the day of the event, registration will take place from 7 to 8:30 a.m.
Join them at 8 a.m. as there will be refreshments and raffle prizes.
The event starts at 9 a.m., rain or shine.
Proceeds benefit Lake County women and men in their treatment against breast cancer.
Sponsoring Survivorship expresses thanks to the many business sponsors and the local community.
Donations may be made by check to Sponsoring Survivorship (a nonprofit #45-3321877), and mailed to PO Box 1924, Lakeport, CA 95453.
For more information go to https://sponsoringsurvivorship.com/, or contact Julie Kelley at 707-972-0286 or Brandi Cubbage at 432-614-7707.